News in brief

Appeal win for struck-off Climbié social worker

A social worker responsible for the welfare of Victoria Climbié yesterday won an appeal against being excluded from the professional register. Lisa Arthurworrey was sacked for misconduct in 2002 for failing to protect the eight-year-old girl, who suffered months of torture and neglect before her death in north London. The General Social Care Council decided Arthurworrey was not fit to practise as a social worker. But yesterday its decision was overturned by the Care Standards Tribunal. The GSCC said it was disappointed because it had been trying to improve standards of social care. John Carvel

Astronomers' new target in search for alien life

Astronomers have drawn up plans for the first targeted search for extra-terrestrials. They hope to use the Allen telescope array in California to hunt for signals arriving from civilisations elsewhere in the galaxy. The telescope will scour the ecliptic, the band of space in line with the Earth's orbit around the sun. Beings on planets near this region could spot the Earth as it moves across the face of the sun, and realise it lies in a habitable region of space. "Those ... will be the most motivated to send communication signals towards Earth," said Richard Henry, at Johns Hopkins University. Ian Sample

Anger as council removes Victorian lamp-posts

Residents of a Bristol suburb are furious that their Victorian cast iron lamp-posts have been removed and are to be erected in the city's upmarket Clifton neighbourhood. Many people in the St Andrews area are saddened that the lamps are to be replaced with modern lighting. The city council said it was replacing the lamps to help counter crime and antisocial behaviour. A spokesman added that it would be too expensive to improve the lighting by adding more cast iron lamp-posts and it made sense to move the Victorian lamp-posts to conservation areas in neighbourhoods such as Clifton. Steven Morris

Parties agree to resume devolved government

Northern Ireland's power-sharing government has been salvaged after Sinn Féin agreed to resume governance with the Democratic Unionist party. Fresh talks will be held with Gordon Brown in Downing Street today after the last-minute rescue, although a dispute over the devolution of policing and justice responsibilities has not been resolved. The DUP's leader, Peter Robinson, will become first minister alongside his Sinn Féin deputy, Martin McGuinness. Republicans had been engaged in talks over whether to nominate McGuinness, amid lack of progress on the security issue. Press Association